Sops to employees; Himachal headed to economic disaster?

The latest announcement of the BJP led Himachal government to shower sops to government employees has sound death knell for the state’s economy and real development in the state will remain a distant dream.

Consider the statistics below:

* Out of the annual state budget of Rs. 20,243.92 crore for the year 2012-13 total spending on salaries of employees and pensioners is Rs. 9,069.81 crore. This comes to a whopping 45% of the state’s budget.

* If you are wondering from where all the money is coming , the state government has been taking loans to meet the expenditure. In the past two months the state has taken a loan of Rs. 860 crore alone to pay the salaries alone. Another request of a loan of Rs 800 crore was turned down by the Reserve Bank of India.

* In a press statement, Rajiv Bindal, BJP general secretary said the government has given Rs 500 crore additional benefit to the employees.

Government employees and their families constitute a major chunk in the state. There are over 3,37,000 regular and contractual employees in the state and adding their family members the number swells upto around 12 lakh. By showering alomost half the state’s budget chief minister Dhumal is desperately trying to woo the employees to vote for BJP as elections are around the corner.

Dhumal government is following the foot steps of the Akali-BJP combine in Punjab who also showered sops on the eve of elections and later emerged victorious once the elections results were announced. Will the same strategy work in Himachal is to be seen.

By spending half the budget on government employees salary when state has almost zero resources of revenue, the government is playing with fire. On one hand half the budget is being spent on 3,37,000 people remaining people in the state are the one which are bearing the brunt.

Himachal Pradesh being an agrarian economy, it is the people living in far flung areas and villages which are actually made to suffer of the largeness of the government. Till date the government has not been able to provide a proper and reliable road system in Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh is headed over to an economic disaster of gigantic proportions. For how long the government can keeping feeding the government employees by taking loans. Why can’t the neta log understand this?